Jobless Held Hostage

For 48 days GOP state legislators blocked up to 37,00046,000 North Carolinians from unemployment benefits.

8

Sonia Street, 43, of Charlotte

Elected officials are acting as if we created this situation. None of us nor our families deserve to be treated like this. It is humiliating, belittling, and terrifying, to say the least.

-Sonia Street, 43, of Charlotte. Laid off in July 2009 from an accounts payable position.

G. Alan Elmore, of Hickory

I am 60 and have worked since I was 14 ½. By the end of the week, I will be homeless, living on the street, with no money for rent or gas.

-G. Alan Elmore, of Hickory.

Frederick Nowack, 65

It’s tough on the people that can’t find jobs. It’s not that we don’t want to work, the jobs aren’t there.

-Frederick Nowack, 65, of Salisbury, former maintenance mechanic.

Patricia Brockington

I lost my apartment already because I paid rent weekly and could not pay. I cannot buy diapers, clothes, or anything for my children.

-Patricia Brockington of Clayton, mother of four. Lost her job when pregnant with her 13-month old.

Brad Brooks, 31

I have lost my home, car and my phone. I’ll be at the local shelter soon. How can those in power have so little care for people like me?

-Brad Brooks, 31, of Greenville. Laid off from software engineer job in 2009.

Tolisha Whitley, 30, a single mom of three in Dudley (in Wayne County)

My electricity is scheduled to be shut off next week and my rent is already behind and another month is approaching.

-Tolisha Whitley, 30, a single mom of three in Dudley (Wayne County). She's been without the weekly $219 in extended benefits since April 16.

Tommy Davis, 62

Now, to hear the Republicans in Raleigh, getting laid off was my entire fault and, at 62, I’m too lazy to find a job!

-Tommy Davis, 62, a Pembroke licensed general contractor. Has applied to 300-plus jobs.

Curtis Ross, 52

I probably have about six months of savings left, and then I don’t know what will happen.

-Curtis Ross, 52, of Charlotte. Lost maintenance supervisor job in 2009, and cut off from extended benefits April 16.

Tolisha Whitley, 30, a single mom of three in Dudley (Wayne County)

I have no income coming in, and I can't afford gas to continue looking for a job.

-Tolisha Whitley, 30, a single mom of three in Dudley (Wayne County). She's been without the weekly $219 in extended benefits since April 16.

On April 16, 2011, 37,000 North Carolinians suddenly had their extended unemployment benefits cut off, leaving many with no income at all to live on. The reason? The unemployed workers were thrust in the middle of the state budget fight when GOP members attached a rider to a bill that would have made Gov. Bev Perdue agree to a deeply cut budget in exchange for letting the federally-funded benefits pass through to the 37,000 jobless. Perdue, a Democrat, vetoed the bill saying she would not bow to political ploys that put people’s livelihoods at risk.None of the benefits have been restored.The benefits were finally restored by Gov. Perdue on June 3, 2011 with Executive Order 93

More from NC Policy Watch

Rep. Stephen LaRoque, a Kinston Republican, was the subject of this Huffington Post story earlier this afternoon, where it reported he paid one of the 46,000 jobless workers without unemployment benefits $8-an-hour to do yard work at his house.[Continue Reading…]

The 42,000 to 45,000 North Carolinians cut off from their extended unemployment benefits since April 16 will have to wait longer, if GOP Senate Leader Phil Berger’s move to fix the stalemate is hinged to the state budget process. [Continue Reading…]

Chrissy Martin (who asked we not use her real name) spoke to us a few weeks ago about her struggle to stay afloat after the extended unemployment benefits she depended on her were held up by GOP members of the state legislature on April 16. When we first talked with her, Martin, a 41-year-old former teacher and assistant in a doctor’s office, had gotten served with an eviction notice and was waiting for her power to be shut off. Now, 37 days into the impasse, nearly all of Martin’s furniture is being auctioned off and she’s waiting for a sheriff’s deputy to come to lock her out of her Charlotte apartment anyday. [Continue Reading…]

The number of unemployed North Carolinians who had their benefits suddenly cut off when their federally-funded benefits were held up by GOP state legislators has grown. As many as 45,400 may be affected, according to rough estimates provided by N.C. Employment Security Commission spokesman Larry Parker. [Continue Reading…]

Tillis plumbed new depths of deception and disingenuousness when he claimed that Governor Perdue was the person holding 37,000 unemployed workers hostage because of her unwillingness to “compromise” with Republicans… [Continue Reading…]

Senate GOP Leader Phil Berger said at his weekly press conference this morning that he has no immediate plan for dealing with the 37,000 unemployed workers whose benefits were cut off on April 16. “No movement on that, for now,” Berger said, in response to a reporter’s question… [Continue Reading…]

It’s bad enough that legislative Republicans have been holding 37,000 families hostage for three weeks by refusing to authorize the continuance of federally-funded unemployment benefits to which they are entitled; now the GOP has the gall to schedule debate on another bill that purports to deal with the problem of unemployed workers… [Continue Reading…]

It was hard not to notice the contrast at the Legislative Building Wednesday. While Senate Democrats held a hearing about help for unemployed workers, the House Appropriations Committee was approving a budget that could throw another 15,000 people out of work. [Continue Reading…]